Plans For High-speed Railroad Revived

March 2, 1988|By RICK PIERCE, Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida`s proposed high-speed railroad -- considered dead a month ago without tax dollars -- can chug forward without public money, the executive director of the High Speed Rail Transportation Commission said on Tuesday.

At a meeting last month, commissioners had said the railroad would have to be shelved unless taxpayers would pick up part of the tab, an idea that lacks support among legislative leaders.

``I still support the idea of a privately funded high-speed rail,`` said Rep. Sam Bell, the Ormond Beach Democrat who oversees the House Appropriations Committee.

Commissioner John Parke Wright IV and others had backed the idea of using state money to acquire land for the railroad and to make other improvements.

But Executive Director Charles Smith said the idea of using tax dollars has never been endorsed by the full commission.

But he said his group would benefit from plans to buy parts of the CSX Railroad in South Florida, although the purchase is designed to benefit the tricounty commuter railroad.

The high-speed train will also benefit from plans by the Department of Transportation to upgrade five railroad crossings in South Florida.

The commission wants planned improvements that also benefit the high-speed railroad to be given priority, but not money, Smith said.

Smith said the train, which could cost up to $5 billion and could travel at speeds higher than 200 mph, would be financed by bonds to be repaid by passenger fares.

The tricounty railroad is designed to take commuters from Broward and Palm Beach counties to Dade County.

The high-speed railroad, scheduled to operate in 1995, would carry passengers from Miami to Orlando and St. Petersburg. It would run through Broward and Palm Beach counties on the CSX tracks just west of Interstate 95.